Watch what happened on November 20 throughout history in this This Day in History video. On November 20, 1947, Princess Elizabeth of England married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who was once prince of Greece and Denmark. On November 20, 1962, President John F. Kennedy removed a month long naval blockade of Cuba. This ended the Cuban Missile Crisis. On November 20, 2003, singer Michael Jackson was arrested on charges of child molestation. Jackson was later acquitted of the charges. Lastly, on November 20, 1945, Nazi officials were put on trial in Nuremberg, Germany. This was the first time where military leaders had to answer to the actions. The trials led to twenty-two indictments, mostly for crimes against humanity.

Nuremberg trials begin

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March 31, 2015

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A+E Networks

Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany, for atrocities committed during World War II.

The Nuremberg Trials were conducted by an international tribunal made up of representatives from the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain. It was the first trial of its kind in history, and the defendants faced charges ranging from crimes against peace, to crimes of war, to crimes against humanity. Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence, the British member, presided over the proceedings, which lasted 10 months and consisted of 216 court sessions.

On October 1, 1946, 12 architects of Nazi policy were sentenced to death. Seven others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 years to life, and three were acquitted. Of the original 24 defendants, one, Robert Ley, committed suicide while in prison, and another, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, was deemed mentally and physically incompetent to stand trial. Among those condemned to death by hanging were Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi minister of foreign affairs; Hermann Goering, leader of the Gestapo and the Luftwaffe; Alfred Jodl, head of the German armed forces staff; and Wilhelm Frick, minister of the interior.

On October 16, 10 of the architects of Nazi policy were hanged. Goering, who at sentencing was called the “leading war aggressor and creator of the oppressive program against the Jews,” committed suicide by poison on the eve of his scheduled execution. Nazi Party leader Martin Bormann was condemned to death in absentia (but is now believed to have died in May 1945). Trials of lesser German and Axis war criminals continued in Germany into the 1950s and resulted in the conviction of 5,025 other defendants and the execution of 806.

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